The world may be getting smaller, but it can seem impossibly vast to church missionaries and those who face the challenge of keeping them connected to home. These committed individuals travel to missions around the world and to remote locations in their home countries. All the love, dedication, and spiritual giving that goes into their work is not sustainable without support from the church's mission fundraising efforts. At the same time, the cultural and logistical challenges built into missionary work can make church donation difficult.

The church website is an anchor for adopting the newest, most streamlined approaches to giving. This online presence serves as a platform for disseminating information about all church functions, but that is not all. Interactive methods, such as a faith-based giving platform, invite response and participation, requiring minimal effort on the part of supporters.

The Power of Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is not a new idea. In fact, churches have long survived based on small donations from the broad base of their supporters or members. What is new? Online crowdfunding. Naturally, the crowd is bigger and more diverse, allowing awareness of the need or cause such as missionary support to grow exponentially.

Online crowdfunding adds a mobile dimension to giving, extending the base of support beyond a limited local audience to a global one, making for a perfect fit with missionaries who, by their nature, are mobile, traveling far and wide. Whatever the primary focus or location of their mission, they need to maintain continuous support in order to achieve their goals. Online crowdfunding is also highly mobile, especially with advanced platforms such as the one provided by Continue To Give.

Once the church or organization is a participant in the platform and has set up its page, the individual missionary can then create their own personal page and apply to be a missionary of their church. The church can accept the request just as we do with a Facebook friend request. The missionary then creates a giving page and can begin using a variety of tools to start and continue fundraising, all with no technical knowledge required. Use online giving to build missionary support with one or more of these inventive tools.

Online Tithing and Fundraising: Use the "create your badge" function, choosing among the types of giving formats available. Then, simply paste the badge onto your fundraising page. Once you activate the badge, visitors to your page can begin giving immediately.

Crowdfunding: From your fundraising page, connect with the giving platform's social media sharing tools. Use them to share information about your fundraiser concept with family and friends. Add stories and references to your regular blog posts, and point followers to your mission fundraising page with a blog integration function. Social media will enable your information to go viral.

Mobile Tithing and Fundraising: Another way to make the most of your fundraising page by activating its already available "go mobile" functions. You can add a text-to-give donate number, or a QR code, or both. Supporters can scan the QR code or text the number to make donations directly from their mobile phones, while they are thinking of it. Make supporters aware of this easy option by noting it on direct mail pieces and letters, in the church bulletin, and at every special fundraiser event.

Kiosk Tithing and Fundraising: Order your church kiosk stand for placement in a convenient location at your church or mission. Once you download the free app for "offering kiosk" onto your iPad or Android, you are ready to secure your tablet to the kiosk, where supporters can easily use it to donate on the spot, even swiping their debit cards for fast, easy processing. Mobile kiosks adapt to any temporary location, such as a one-day fundraiser event. They can also be used in a church lobby.

Facebook Fundraising: The first step is to create an interesting, dynamic Facebook page for your mission. Include photos of your location and events, and, most importantly, of the people you are serving. Make the mission real for those who visit your page by describing the activities you have completed, and those you are planning for the future, along with any successful outcomes.

If your mission is new or planned for the future, outline the goals and what you hope to accomplish. Then, go to your platform fundraising page and use the same "create your badge" function outlined above. It provides very simple instructions for adding your giving form to your Facebook page. Asking friends to donate publicly means you can post to their wall, spreading the word even further.

Creating this kind of presence on your Facebook page is a great foundation for further promotion of your cause. If you create interest in your fundraiser event and your cause, you can achieve wider publicity through local TV or radio media.

Secure Mission Fundraising

When it comes to charitable giving, online donations through a platform like Continue To Give offer greater security and accountability than ever before. Amounts donated to missionaries will go directly into the bank account of the church or nonprofit organization, using IRS data for 501 (c)(3) organizations. Donations are received in real time, through a secure, third-party processor, and can be made by credit card or electronic check. All online donation platforms charge a fee that depends on the estimated donation amounts and, often, the number of transactions in each type of service. These amounts go in part toward covering bank processing fees. Receiving organizations should check to see what fees they will be charged for using the site's services. If you are unsure of the fees, check with the provider first to make sure you know what to expect.

Each participating church or organization will show certifications in the form of badges on their fundraising pages. These assure givers that they are choosing a reliable, certified recipient, and that they have correctly identified the intended group. The church and giver receives a receipt for each donation, and can easily access a reporting tool to track amounts raised for each mission or missionary.

In addition Continue to Give offers integration with your organization's accounting software for easy bookkeeping. This will take the stress off your staff for keeping records straight.